Tag Archives: libraries

My nephew’s daycare went to the library this week. On the way home he said, “Mommy, when we get home let’s play in my room. It has books like the library. I will be the library worker and show you what to do.”

Then I got these videos:

Love that he whispers!

Who still stamps books?! What library did they visit?!

When he was checking Beej’s books out the library phone just kept ringing, but he had other customers to help! (Sound familiar to anyone?)

(When is YouTube gonna embrace the vertical video format?! I mean, I realize some are like NO, JUST STOP IT! But everyone I know forgets to turn the phone when taking video — including me. Just embrace it, interwebz.)

I’m often attracted to books because of the cover and I will admit that The Peculiarsby Maureen Doyle McQuerry is one I read because I was so attracted to the incredible artwork.

Since childhood, Lena’s been told she’s a goblin…a Peculiar, just like her always-in-trouble father. Her father leaves when she’s young, but on her 18th birthday, her mother gives her a letter from her father that sends Lena on a quest to find him and herself.

One of the first people we’re introduced to besides Lena, is Jimson Quiggley — he’s a librarian. There’s even some “you don’t have a library degree” snobbishness from Lena (her mom is a Children’s Librarian). So that made me love the book all the more. I mean, if you dig books, then definitely give this one a shot because they spend quite a bit of time in a super cool library.

While reading The Peculiars, all I could think about were the books it reminded me of. Most of them I really enjoyed, so that’s a good thing. First, this book reminds me of Chime, except that I like Lena and never understood Briony. Both girls have a “something” that makes them different, but don’t know what it is. I also get a sense of the Gemma Doyle series (A Great and Terrible Beauty) — a young woman out to find herself in a kind-of Victorian era (I’m not entirely sure of where The Peculiars takes place, but I do know it’s the late 1800s). There’s also a hint of Alexia Tarabotti here (Soulless). There are some steampunkish elements and, like Alexia, Lena is a girl that’s a little different from everyone else. Finally, I can’t quite place why, but something about Lena, the setting, or something, reminds me of Switched.

Definitely a fun read and totally refreshing to read something a little different from what I’ve been reading (which is mainly YA dystopias). (Though I am bothered that the name Lena was used…I mean, considering the popularity of Delirium, couldn’t a different name have been chosen?)

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review via NetGalley.

I blogged about Pinterest way back in June. I loved it then, I love it now. And while I kind of tossed around ideas about how to use it in libraries I wasn’t totally sure about it. I was thinking about as a personal tool that I could also use for work.

But lately EVERYONE’S been talking about Pinterest and many libraries have started using it. Sacramento has some of my favorite boards, but there are lots of others. I’ve just started pinning via work and I’m hoping I’ll get a few other staffers in on the fun, too. (I mean, my director and a couple of co-workers ARE already hooked, so it shouldn’t be too difficult!)

Any board suggestions? I was thinking about starting a “readalike” board for a few popular titles. We’ve just started a floating collection, so as new titles come in I could pin those. But I don’t want to just pin things that link back to our site because that’s not fun! You catch people with the fun and then they don’t even realize that you’re sneaking in meaningful things (mainly more web hits for us!).

Honestly, I think the trickiest part is timing. I mean, one person starts pinning a lot and you miss stuff from other pinners you follow. Not to mention, things change SO quickly on Pinterest (and searching for pins can be tricky, too…of course, they are still in beta!).

Then the other problem is pin descriptions…PLEASE start using actual WORDS for your pins and linking them back to the POST that the image is on!

I started gathering all the books I have checked out from the librar(ies). There are A LOT. I started gathering because I thought I’d return a few, but after looking…I still want to read ALL of them. I need to win the lottery so I can just read all day.